The inaugural speeches of successive U.S. presidents have always attracted world attention. On January 20, the 44th President of the United States, Obama, once again touched the hearts of people around the world with a touching inaugural address full of "responsibility" in front of a semicircular wooden podium on the west side of the Capitol Building. Maybe you still don’t know that the main author of such a wonderful speech is actually a 27-year-old young man!
His name is Favreau, and he is very handsome. He is the number one literary figure in Obama's "shooting group". It is said that Obama's energetic campaign slogan "Yes We Can" was his idea. In 2004, after graduating from the College of Holy Cross in Massachusetts, the 23-year-old Favreau first met Obama when he was working as an aide to former Senator John Cory. At that time, Obama was rehearsing his speech for the Democratic National Convention backstage, but Favreau suddenly interrupted and pointed out that a section of Obama's speech needed to be revised, otherwise there would be repeated words.
Favreau recalled, "At that time, Obama looked at me, a little confused, as if he was wondering who this young man was." Favreau later rose to become a writer for Cory's campaign and was recommended as a staff writer for Obama in 2005.
Favreau is the youngest chief speechwriter on record in the White House. In Obama's own words, Favreau is the president's mind reader. Obama is an accomplished writer himself, and the drafting process with his mind-readers was collaborative. The inaugural address was exchanged between them four or five times, followed by hour-by-hour conversations, with the presidential candidate talking about his views and Favreau taking notes on his computer.
In the following days, Favreau and his team spent a lot of time on investigation and research. They interviewed historians and speech writers, studied crisis cycles and listened to collections of speeches from past presidents. When he was ready, he stayed in a Starbucks coffee shop in Washington and finished the first draft.