Conversation with a ghost: A postscript

Josef Berger, a speechwriter who worked for Harry Truman, Sam Ray‐burn, and Claude Pepper, and who wrote the first draft for Franklin D. Roosevelt's “Last Speech,” commented in an interview recorded in 1965 on his earlier work with Lyndon B. Johnson. Berger felt that Johnson had lost control over decisions leading to escalation in Vietnam, but that once set on his course he stubbornly resisted counter arguments. Berger was worried that ghostwritten speeches were not a reliable indicator of a politician's character or intentions, and that speechwriters too often became invisible shapers of policy.