Reagan speechwriter/author Peggy Noonan on writing

September 1, 2016

12:00 AM

While working as a producer at CBS news and writing a daily commentary show as a political conservative, Peggy Noonan received an offer she couldn’t refuse:

How would she like to be the primary speechwriter for then-president Ronald Reagan?

A born writer, Noonan – who will speak as part of the Jefferson Series on Oct. 18 – took interest in politics as a child when John F. Kennedy ran for office, and she became seriously interested in history and politics in her 20s.

“But my sense of myself as a writer preceded all other interests,” she says.

From an early age, Noonan identified with the soul of the writer. “I thought I was a writer as a child,” she says, recalling a fondness for books and particular pleasure taken in writing poems.

In the 1980s, Noonan helped President Reagan navigate such oratorical challenges as addressing the nation on the 40th anniversary of D-day in 1984, and again following the Challenger space shuttle explosion in 1986, when the president delivered the now famous line, “(They) slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.”

Those words came from a poem by John Magee Jr., a 19-year-old poet and aviator who died in a plane collision in 1941. The Challenger speech is listed as one of the most significant speeches of the 20th century in a University of Wisconsin-Madison survey of more than 100 communication scholars.

Now the author of nine books – including the biography When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan and a recently released collection of writings chronicling her career in journalism and the Reagan White House, The Time of Our Lives – Noonan also writes a weekly opinion column for the Wall Street Journal, and has for the last 16 years. Five of her books have been New York Times bestsellers, and she received an Emmy nomination in 2002 for her work on the first network special on the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, called America: A Tribute to Heroes.

Noonan sees the different types of writing she does – speeches, books, columns – as both distinct and connected. When writing columns, she’s on a deadline, and brevity is important.

“You have to do your best to have an original thought, express it as well as you can and file,” she says.

Book writing, on the other hand, can be more comprehensive. The writer has more time to devote to a polished version of his or her thoughts. The connection between these two types of writing lies in the presence of the author’s thoughts and personal expression, Noonan says.

Speechwriting, then, differs by yet one more degree: the writer isn’t able to indulge his or her own views.

“Speechwriting is trying to express the thoughts of another the way they would express them,” Noonan says.

But when it comes down to it, she says, every writing discipline falls under the same umbrella.

“It’s all writing, and in a funny way, I don’t think writers fully understand what they do, where it comes from. They just do it,” says Noonan. “That may be true of more professions than we know.”

One of Noonan’s favorite memories of Reagan isn’t about a particularly funny incident, or an entertaining anecdote, but rather, a moment when she felt she had close access to a genuine glimpse of his character. While working with Reagan on his farewell address in December 1988, Noonan recalls attempting to get him to brag a bit about his accomplishments as commander-in-chief; the president was uncomfortable with the notion.

“The idea of extolling his accomplishments, I think, embarrassed him,” she says. “(He was) old school.”

In a tribute to Reagan following his death in 2004, Noonan wrote, “For a man who changed the world, Ronald Reagan sure was modest.”

This election cycle, that Reaganesque modesty doesn’t seem to be a prerequisite for candidacy.

“The 2016 presidential election is unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed,” says Noonan. “One candidate has never run for or held public office; the other is someone more than half the people think is utterly corrupt and dishonest. Quite a moment.”

These days, when she’s not busy writing her column for the Journal or appearing as a political correspondent on CBS offering her take on the current candidates, Noonan takes time to enjoy her bustling surroundings in Manhattan. Once a week, she goes to a nearby restaurant and reads newspapers and magazines while talking to the waiters and waitresses about what’s going on.

Noonan also cites walking often, attending mass and talking to shopkeepers and strangers as essential parts of maintaining happiness.

“I devote a lot of time to intellectual intake and talking to normal, regular people on the ground in America,” she says. “I read a lot of history in the hopes it will help me understand the moment we’re in, or at least understand where we’ve been.”

Looking back on her thought process while writing the prodigious Challenger speech, Noonan admits it’s difficult to recall precisely what was going through her mind in those moments. She does recall one desire she carried through the writing process, though.

“I hoped it was helpful to people,” she says.

Jessica Williams is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.

Fit Five

In a new section in Healthy New Albany Magazine, we talk to prominent national or community figures who have made their mark on Columbus in some way and learn about what they do on a regular basis to stay healthy. We had a chance to talk with author, speechwriter and Jefferson Series speaker Peggy Noonan.

Healthy New Albany: Are there any foods you try to avoid or emphasize?

Peggy Noonan: I eat all foods. I like food. I try to eat my vegetables.

HNA: What are your favorite ways to stay active?

PN: I walk a lot, long treks downtown and back. Through the park, too.

HNA: What do you like to do to relax?

PN: I don't think I do anything to relax. But to maintain a reasonable happiness, I walk and go to mass, and talk to shopkeepers and a lot of strangers, too.

HNA: How do you incorporate wellness into your busy travel schedule?

PN: I don’t consciously incorporate wellness in my schedule, and feel I should. I think I mostly try to avoid unwellness. I mean to get a trainer and then forget, but I have a feeling I should do more physical work that is overseen by a professional. I will after the election. No, the inauguration. No, in the spring...

HNA: Is there anything you do to keep yourself in the right frame of mind when you’re writing?

PN: I listen to music. I allow myself to abstract, have undirected thoughts. They can lead to interesting places. But at the end of the day, there’s the deadline. Write, rewrite, kill, add, rewrite. Hit send. Hope I’ll be better next week.