Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is an American politician, lawyer and public speaker. She served as the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, U. S. Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009, 67th United States Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, as the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election, the first woman nominated by a major party. Born in Chicago and raised in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, Clinton graduated from Wellesley College in 1969 and earned a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1973. After serving as a congressional legal counsel, she moved to Arkansas and married future president Bill Clinton in 1975. In 1977, she co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Families, she was appointed the first female chair of the Legal Services Corporation in 1978, became the first female partner at Little Rock's Rose Law Firm the following year. As First Lady of Arkansas, she led a task force whose recommendations helped reform Arkansas's public schools.
As First Lady of the United States, Clinton advocated for healthcare reform. Her marital relationship came under public scrutiny during the Lewinsky scandal, which led her to issue a statement that reaffirmed her commitment to the marriage. In 2000, Clinton was elected as the first female Senator from New York, she was reelected to the Senate in 2006. Running for president in 2008, she won far more delegates than any previous female candidate, but lost the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama. During her tenure as U. S. Secretary of State in the Obama Administration from 2009 to 2013, Clinton responded to the Arab Spring by advocating military intervention in Libya, she helped to organize a diplomatic isolation and a regime of international sanctions against Iran in an effort to force curtailment of that country's nuclear program. Upon leaving her Cabinet position after Obama's first term, she wrote her fifth book and undertook speaking engagements. Clinton made a second presidential run in 2016.
She received the most votes and primary delegates in the 2016 Democratic primaries and formally accepted her party's nomination for President of the United States on July 28, 2016, with vice presidential running mate Senator from Virginia Tim Kaine. She lost the presidential election to Republican opponent Donald Trump in the Electoral College, despite winning a plurality of the popular vote, she received more than 65 million votes, the 3rd-highest count in a U. S. presidential election, behind Obama's victories in 2008 and 2012. Following her loss, she wrote her third memoir, What Happened, launched Onward Together, a political action organization dedicated to fundraising for progressive political groups. Hillary Diane Rodham was born on October 1947, at Edgewater Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, she was raised in a United Methodist family. When she was three years old, her family moved to the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, her father, Hugh Rodham, was of English and Welsh descent, managed a small but successful textile business, which he had founded.
Her mother, Dorothy Howell, was a homemaker of Dutch, French Canadian and Welsh descent. Clinton has two younger brothers and Tony; as a child, Rodham was a favorite student among her teachers at the public schools that she attended in Park Ridge. She earned numerous badges as a Brownie and a Girl Scout, she has told a story of being inspired by U. S. efforts during the Space Race and sending a letter to NASA around 1961 asking what she could do to become an astronaut, only to be informed that women were not being accepted into the program. She attended Maine East High School, where she participated in the student council, the school newspaper and was selected for the National Honor Society, she was elected class vice president for her junior year, but lost the election for class president for her senior year against two boys, one of whom told her that "you are stupid if you think a girl can be elected president". For her senior year and other students were transferred to the new Maine South High School, where she was a National Merit Finalist and was voted, "most to succeed".
She graduated in 1965 in the top five percent of her class. Rodham's mother wanted her to have an independent, professional career, her father, otherwise a traditionalist, felt that his daughter's abilities and opportunities should not be limited by gender, she was raised in a politically conservative household, she helped canvass Chicago's South Side at age 13 after the close 1960 U. S. presidential election. She saw evidence of electoral fraud against Republican candidate Richard Nixon, volunteered to campaign for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in the U. S. presidential election of 1964. Rodham's early political development was shaped by her high school history teacher, who introduced her to Goldwater's The Conscience of a Conservative and by her Methodist youth minister, with whom she saw and afterwards met, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. at a 1962 speech in Chicago's Orchestra Hall. In 1965, Rodham enrolled at Wellesley College. During her freshman year, she served as president of the Wellesley Young Republicans.
As the leader of this "Rockefeller Republican"-oriented group, she supported the elections of moderate Republicans John Lind
Presidency of Barack Obama
The presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009, when Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States, ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat, took office following a decisive victory over Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Four years in the 2012 election, he defeated Republican Mitt Romney to win re-election, he was the first African American president, the first multiracial president, the first non-white president, the first president to have been born in Hawaii. Obama was succeeded by Republican Donald Trump. Obama's first-term actions addressed the global financial crisis and included a major stimulus package, a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts, legislation to reform health care, a major financial regulation reform bill, the end of a major US military presence in Iraq. Obama appointed Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, the latter of whom became the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court.
Democrats controlled both houses of Congress until Republicans won a majority in the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections. Following the elections and Congressional Republicans engaged in a protracted stand-off over government spending levels and the debt ceiling; the Obama administration's policy against terrorism downplayed Bush's counterinsurgency model, expanding air strikes and making extensive use of special forces and encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries. The Obama administration orchestrated the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011. In his second term, Obama took steps to combat climate change, signing a major international climate agreement and an executive order to limit carbon emissions. Obama presided over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other legislation passed in his first term, he negotiated rapprochements with Iran and Cuba; the number of American soldiers in Afghanistan fell during Obama's second term, though U.
S. soldiers remained in Afghanistan throughout Obama's presidency and continue to as of 2018. Republicans took control of the Senate after the 2014 elections, Obama continued to grapple with Congressional Republicans over government spending, judicial nominations, other issues. After winning election to represent the state of Illinois in the Senate in 2004, Obama announced that he would run for president in February 2007. In the 2008 Democratic primary, Obama faced former First Lady Hillary Clinton. Several other candidates, including Senator Joe Biden of Delaware and former Senator John Edwards ran for the nomination, but these candidates dropped out after the initial primaries. In June, on the day of the final primaries, Obama clinched the nomination by winning a majority of the delegates, including both pledged delegates and superdelegates. Obama and Biden, whom Obama selected as his running mate, were nominated as the Democratic ticket at the August 2008 Democratic National Convention. With Republican President George W. Bush term limited, the Republicans nominated Senator John McCain of Arizona for the presidency.
In the general election, Obama defeated McCain, taking 52.9% of the popular vote and 365 of the 538 electoral votes. In the Congressional elections, Democrats added to their majorities in both houses of Congress, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid both remained in their posts. Republicans John Boehner and Mitch McConnell continued to serve as House Minority Leader and Senate Minority Leader, respectively; the presidential transition period began following Obama's election to the presidency in November 2008, though Obama had chosen Chris Lu to begin planning for the transition in May 2008. John Podesta, Valerie Jarrett, Pete Rouse co-chaired the Obama-Biden Transition Project. During the transition period, Obama announced nominations for his administration. In November 2008, Congressman Rahm Emanuel accepted Obama's offer to serve as White House Chief of Staff. Obama was inaugurated on January 2009, succeeding George W. Bush. Obama assumed the presidency at 12:00 pm, EST, completed the oath of office at 12:05 pm, EST.
He delivered his inaugural address following his oath. Obama's transition team was complimentary of the Bush administration's outgoing transition team with regards to national security, some elements of the Bush-Obama transition were codified into law. Following his inauguration and the Senate worked to confirm his nominees to the United States Cabinet. Three Cabinet-level officers did not require confirmation: Vice President Joe Biden, who Obama had chosen as his running mate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who Obama chose to retain from the previous administration. An early list of suggestions came from Michael Froman an executive at Citigroup. Obama described his Cabinet choices as a "team of rivals," and Obama chose several prominent public officials for Cabinet positions, including former Democratic primary rival Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Obama nominated several former Clinton administration officials to the Cabinet and to other positions.
On April 28, 2009, the Senate confirmed former Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services, completing Obama's initial Cabinet. During Obama's presidency, four Republicans served in Obama's Cabinet: Ray Lahood as Secretary of Transportation, Robert McDonald as Secretary of Veteran's Affairs, Gates and Chuck Hagel as Secretaries of Defense. Counselor to the President Pete Rouse John Podesta Senior Advisor to the
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State referred to as the State Department, is the federal executive department that advises the President and conducts international relations. Equivalent to the foreign ministry of other countries, it was established in 1789 as the nation's first executive department; the current Secretary of State is Mike Pompeo, who ascended to the office in April 2018 after Rex Tillerson resigned. The State Department's duties include implementing the foreign policy of the United States, operating the nation's diplomatic missions abroad, negotiating treaties and agreements with foreign entities, representing the United States at the United Nations, it is led by the Secretary of State, a member of the Cabinet, nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. In addition to administering the department, the Secretary of State serves as the nation's chief diplomat and representative abroad; the Secretary of State is the first Cabinet official in the order of precedence and in the presidential line of succession, after the Vice President of the United States, Speaker of the House of Representatives, President pro tempore of the Senate.
The State Department is headquartered in the Harry S Truman Building, a few blocks away from the White House, in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D. C.. The U. S. Constitution, drafted in Philadelphia in September 1787 and ratified by the 13 states the following year, gave the President the responsibility for the conduct of the nation's foreign relations; the House of Representatives and Senate approved legislation to establish a Department of Foreign Affairs on July 21, 1789, President Washington signed it into law on July 27, making the Department of Foreign Affairs the first federal agency to be created under the new Constitution. This legislation remains the basic law of the Department of State. In September 1789, additional legislation changed the name of the agency to the Department of State and assigned to it a variety of domestic duties; these responsibilities grew to include management of the United States Mint, keeper of the Great Seal of the United States, the taking of the census.
President George Washington signed the new legislation on September 15. Most of these domestic duties of the Department of State were turned over to various new federal departments and agencies that were established during the 19th century. However, the Secretary of State still retains a few domestic responsibilities, such as being the keeper of the Great Seal and being the officer to whom a President or Vice President of the United States wishing to resign must deliver an instrument in writing declaring the decision to resign. On September 29, 1789, President Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson of Virginia Minister to France, to be the first United States Secretary of State. John Jay had been serving in as Secretary of Foreign Affairs as a holdover from the Confederation since before Washington had taken office and would continue in that capacity until Jefferson returned from Europe many months later. From 1790 to 1800, the State Department had its headquarters in Philadelphia, the capital of the United States at the time.
It occupied a building at Fifth Streets. In 1800, it moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D. C. where it first occupied the Treasury Building and the Seven Buildings at 19th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. It moved into the Six Buildings in September 1800, where it remained until May 1801, it moved into the War Office Building due west of the White House in May 1801. It occupied the Treasury Building from September 1819 to November 1866, except for the period from September 1814 to April 1816, it occupied the Washington City Orphan Home from November 1866 to July 1875. It moved to the State and Navy Building in 1875. Since May 1947, it has occupied the Harry S. Truman Building in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington. Condoleezza Rice became the second female secretary of state in 2005. Hillary Clinton became the third female secretary of state when she was appointed in 2009. In 2014, the State Department began expanding into the Navy Hill Complex across 23rd Street NW from the Truman Building.
A joint venture consisting of the architectural firms of Goody and the Louis Berger Group won a $2.5 million contract in January 2014 to begin planning the renovation of the buildings on the 11.8 acres Navy Hill campus, which housed the World War II headquarters of the Office of Strategic Services and was the first headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Executive Branch and the U. S. Congress have constitutional responsibilities for U. S. foreign policy. Within the Executive Branch, the Department of State is the lead U. S. foreign affairs agency, its head, the Secretary of State, is the President's principal foreign policy advisor. The Department advances U. S. objectives and interests in the world through its primary role in developing and implementing the President's foreign policy. It provides an array of important services to U. S. citizens and to foreigners seeking to visit or immigrate to the United States. All foreign affairs activities—U. S. Representation abroad, foreign assistance programs, countering internatio
Surrey
Surrey is a subdivision of the English region of South East England in the United Kingdom. A historic and ceremonial county, Surrey is one of the home counties; the county borders Kent to the east, East Sussex and West Sussex to the south, Hampshire to the west, Berkshire to the northwest, Greater London to the northeast. Inhabited by about 1.2 million people, Surrey is the twelfth most populous English county, both the third most populous home county and the third most populous county in the South East. Guildford is considered to be the county town; however despite the town's designation, Surrey County Council has never been based there, being instead seated throughout its history in London. Since the borders of Surrey were altered in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963 which created Greater London, none of these places are now in Surrey, marking an example of a de facto capital, located outside of its administrative area. Surrey is divided into eleven districts: Elmbridge and Ewell, Mole Valley and Banstead, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Tandridge and Woking.
Services such as roads, mineral extraction licensing, strategic waste and recycling infrastructure, birth and death registration, social and children's services are administered by Surrey County Council. The London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and small parts of Lewisham and Bromley were in Surrey until 1889. Since the 1965 reform the bordering boroughs of the capital have been those taken from it in 1965 plus Bromley and Hounslow; the form of Surrey which remains since 1965 is a wealthy county due to economic, aesthetic and logistical factors. It has the highest GDP per capita of any English county, some of the highest property values outside Inner London and the highest cost of living in the UK outside of the capital. Surrey has the highest proportion of woodland in England, having been rural since it was shorn in 1965 of the urbanised swathes of South London which had hitherto been part of the county, it has large protected green spaces. It has four racecourses in horse racing, the most of any Home County and as at 2013 contained 141 golf courses including international competition venue Wentworth.
Surrey has proximity to London and to Heathrow and Gatwick airports, along with access to major arterial road routes including the M25, M3 and M23 and frequent rail services into Central London. Surrey is divided in two by the chalk ridge of the North Downs; the ridge is pierced by the rivers Wey and Mole, tributaries of the Thames, which formed the northern border of the county before modern redrawing of county boundaries, which has left part of its north bank within the county. To the north of the Downs the land is flat, forming part of the basin of the Thames; the geology of this area is dominated by London Clay in the east, Bagshot Sands in the west and alluvial deposits along the rivers. To the south of the Downs in the western part of the county are the sandstone Surrey Hills, while further east is the plain of the Low Weald, rising in the extreme southeast to the edge of the hills of the High Weald; the Downs and the area to the south form part of a concentric pattern of geological deposits which extends across southern Kent and most of Sussex, predominantly composed of Wealden Clay, Lower Greensand and the chalk of the Downs.
Much of Surrey is in the Metropolitan Green Belt. It contains valued reserves of mature woodland. Among its many notable beauty spots are Box Hill, Leith Hill, Frensham Ponds, Newlands Corner and Puttenham & Crooksbury Commons. Surrey is the most wooded county in England, with 22.4% coverage compared to a national average of 11.8% and as such is one of the few counties not to recommend new woodlands in the subordinate planning authorities' plans. Box Hill has the oldest untouched area of natural woodland in one of the oldest in Europe. Surrey contains England's principal concentration of lowland heath, on sandy soils in the west of the county. Agriculture not being intensive, there are many commons and access lands, together with an extensive network of footpaths and bridleways including the North Downs Way, a scenic long-distance path. Accordingly, Surrey provides many rural and semi-rural leisure activities, with a large horse population in modern terms; the highest elevation in Surrey is Leith Hill near Dorking.
It is 294 m above sea level and is the second highest point in southeastern England after Walbury Hill in West Berkshire, 297 m. Surrey has a population of 1.1 million people. Its largest town is Guildford, with a population of 77,057, they are followed by Ewell with 39,994 people and Camberley with 30,155. Towns of between 25,000 and 30,000 inhabitants are Ashford, Farnham and Redhill. Guildford is the historic county town, although the county administration was moved to Newington in 1791 and to Kingston upon Thames in 1893; the county counc
Charles Rivkin
Charles Hammerman Rivkin is an American media executive and former United States diplomat, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Motion Picture Association of America Rivkin served as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs at the U. S. Department of State from 2014 to 2017. Confirmed by the U. S. Senate on February 12, 2014, Rivkin assumed office the following day, was sworn in publicly by U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry on April 15, 2014. Rivkin's confirmation marked the first time a U. S. ambassador and former CEO led the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the U. S. State Department. Prior to his appointment, Rivkin served for more than four years as the United States Ambassador to France and Monaco where he led America's first and one of its largest diplomatic missions, which has six constituent posts throughout France and represents over 50 U. S. government agencies and sections. In this capacity, Rivkin served as the U. S. Permanent Observer to the Council of Europe.
Of Eastern European Jewish heritage, Rivkin is one of four children of Enid Hammerman and William R. Rivkin, the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg under President John F. Kennedy and United States Ambassador to Senegal and Gambia under President Lyndon B. Johnson, his mother's grandfather founded J K Industries, a large children's clothing manufacturer expanded by Rivkin's grandfather. In 1967, Rivkin's father died, his widowed mother remarried Chicago obstetrician Dr. John S. Long in 1971. Rivkin earned a B. A. from Yale University in 1984. He graduated with distinction in international relations. At Yale, he was a member of two Yale a cappella groups: the underclassmen Spizzwinks and the all-senior Whiffenpoofs, he earned an M. B. A. from Harvard University in 1988. Prior to entering government service, Rivkin worked in the media sector for over 20 years, serving as president and CEO of award-winning entertainment companies such as The Jim Henson Company, home of the "Muppets", he served as CEO of Wildbrain where he won a BAFTA Award as Executive Producer of the hit TV series Yo Gabba Gabba!.
Rivkin helped engineer the sale of The Jim Henson Company to EM. TV in 2000 for nearly $1 billion and was named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company. Rivkin served as an at-large California delegate for Senator John Kerry at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and for Barack Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Rivkin was the California finance co-chair for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and one of his top fund raisers. Rivkin assumed the role of Ambassador in August 2009. Ambassador Rivkin's service in France came at one of the bilateral relationship's strongest moments in recent history. To honor the legacy of Franco-American friendship and to commemorate the 68th anniversary of the Allied invasion of mainland Europe during World War II, Rivkin took part in a mass parachute jump over the coast of Normandy on June 3, 2012. During his 12,000-foot jump, Rivkin was accompanied by members of the U. S. Army Golden Knights parachute team. An estimated crowd of 25,000 watched Rivkin land in a field near Sainte-Mère-Église amidst heavy winds, as he became the first US Ambassador to France to jump from a plane in honor of the troops who fought on D-Day.
In support of the U. S. Navy, Rivkin became the first US Ambassador to take off and land on a Navy aircraft carrier in an F-18 Super Hornet when he participated in a training exercise with naval aviators on the USS Eisenhower in March 2013. According to the Department of State Office of Inspector General's report in May 2012, Rivkin placed new emphasis on support for US exports of goods and services into France; the report called Rivkin a "dynamic and visionary noncareer Ambassador", credited him with expanding the U. S. Embassy's public diplomacy activities through his use of social media and his appearances on French national television. Rivkin introduced social media to Embassy Paris, establishing its first Facebook and Twitter accounts; as ambassador, Rivkin made youth outreach one of his key priorities and connected the embassy to the next generation of leaders throughout France, including in disadvantaged communities in the banlieues outside larger cities. Rivkin organized a series of seminars for French youth, inviting them to meet with prominent American government officials and musicians.
Beginning with actor Samuel L. Jackson's April 2010 visit with students in Bondy, an economically depressed Parisian suburb, Rivkin set up seminars and hosted events with Stephen Colbert, Sylvester Stallone, Woody Allen, Jodie Foster, will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, Robert Zemeckis, Allen Stone, Tony Bennett, Herbie Hancock, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and many others. "Much of the embassy's outreach is meant to dispel'mistruths' about the United States," Rivkin said in an interview, adding, "It's easier to hate something you don't understand." In January 2012, Rivkin broadened his outreach efforts by creating the Washburne Award for Innovation in Diversity, recognizing one French and one American company for their best practices in fostering diversity in hiring practices. In January 2013, Rivkin commented on the pending parole and release of Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, sentenced to life in prison for complicity in the murders of an American and an Israeli diplomat: "I am disappointed by the decision today...
Life imprisonment was the appropriate sentence for Mr Abdallah's serious crimes, there is legitimate concern that Mr. Abdallah would continue to represent a danger to the international community if he were allowed to go free."On July 16, 2013, French President François Hollande awarded Ambassador Rivkin the rank of C
Film criticism
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. The concept is used interchangeably with that of film reviews. A film review implies a recommendation aimed at consumers, however not all film criticism takes the form of reviews. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism which appears in newspapers and other popular mass-media outlets. Academic film criticism takes the form of a review. Film was introduced in the late 19th century; the earliest artistic criticism of film emerged in the early 1900s. The first paper to serve as a critique of film came out of The Optical Lantern and Cinematograph Journal, followed by the Bioscope in 1908. Film is a new form of art, in comparison to music and painting which have existed since ancient times. Early writing on film sought to argue that films could be considered a form of art. In 1911, Ricciotto Canudo wrote a manifesto proclaiming cinema to be the "Sixth Art". For many decades after, film was still being treated with less prestige than longer-established art forms.
By the 1920s, critics were analyzing film for its value as more than just entertainment. The growing popularity of the medium caused major newspapers to start hiring film critics. In the 1930s, the film industry developed concepts of stardom and celebrity in relation to actors, which led to a rise in obsession with critics as well, to the point that they were seen on "red carpet" and at major events with the actors, it was in the 1940s. Essays analyzing films with a distinctive charm and style to persuade the reader of the critic's argument, it was the emergence of these styles that brought film criticism to the mainstream, gaining the attention of many popular magazines. As the decades passed, the fame for critics grew and gave rise to household names among the craft like James Agee, Andrew Sarris, Pauline Kael and in modern times Roger Ebert and Peter Travers. Film critics working for newspapers, broadcast media, online publications review new releases, although review older films. An important task for these reviews is to inform readers on whether or not they would want to see the film.
A film review will explain the premise of the film before discussing its merits. The verdict is summarised with a form of rating. Numerous rating systems exist, such as 5 - or academic-style grades and pictograms; some well-known journalistic critics have included: James Agee. Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel popularised the concept of reviewing films in a television format in the show Siskel & Ebert At the Movies which became syndicated in the 1980s. Both critics had established their careers in print media, continued to write written reviews for their respective newspapers alongside their television show; some websites, such as Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, seek to improve the usefulness of film reviews by compiling them and assigning a score to each in order to gauge the general reception a film receives. Blogging has introduced opportunities for a new wave of amateur film critics to have their opinions heard; these review blogs may focus on one genre, director or actor, or encompass a much wider variety of films.
Friends, friends of friends, or strangers are able to visit these blogsites, can leave their own comments about the movie and/or the author's review. Although much less frequented than their professional counterparts, these sites can gather a following of like-minded people who look to specific bloggers for reviews as they have found that the critic exhibits an outlook similar to their own. YouTube has served as a platform for amateur film critics; some websites specialize in narrow aspects of film reviewing. For instance, there are sites that focus on specific content advisories for parents to judge a film's suitability for children. Others focus on a religious perspective. Still others highlight more esoteric subjects such as the depiction of science in fiction films. One such example is Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics by Intuitor; some online niche websites provide comprehensive coverage of the independent sector. They tend to offer uncompromising opinions free of any commercial interest, their film critics have an academic film background.
The Online Film Critics Society, an international professional association of Internet-based cinema reviewers, consists of writers from all over the world, while New York Film Critics Online members handle reviews in the New York tri-state area. A number of websites allow Internet users to submit movie reviews and aggregate them into an average. Community-driven review sites have allowed the common movie goer to express their opinion on films. Many of these sites allow users to rate films on a 0 to 10 scale, while some rely on the sta
Speechwriter
A speechwriter is a person, 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 be employed to write for weddings and other social occasions. A speechwriter works directly with senior executives or leaders to determine what points, positions, or messages the executive would like to cover. Speechwriters need to be able to accept criticism and comments on the different drafts of the speech, be able to incorporate the proposed changes into the draft. Speechwriters have to be able to work on several different speeches at once, manage their time so that they can meet strict deadlines for finishing the speech on time. Speechwriters must be able to accept anonymity, because with few exceptions, speechwriters are not credited or acknowledged; this aspect creates a dilemma for compilers of speech anthology. Should credit be given to the President, to speechwriter Ted Sorensen, or to both?
Professional speechwriter Lawrence Bernstein writes: Some clients have called with six months to spare, others with four hours to go. While there is a guild called "The UK Speechwriters' Guild" for professional speechwriters, they do not have specific training in the area or field for which they are writing speeches. Instead, speechwriters have a broad understanding of basic economics, political roles, policy issues, which make them generalists who are able to "translate" complex economic and policy issues into a clear message for the general public; as with many other writing occupations, most speechwriters do not have specific training in their writing craft. Instead, speechwriters develop their speech writing skills by combining a general liberal arts education with a variety of work experience in politics, public administration, journalism, or a related field; the delivery of the speech is part of the challenge speechwriters face. Executive speechwriter Anthony Trendl writes: Speechwriters specialize in a kind of writing that merges marketing, public relations, sales and politics all in one presentation.
A perennial challenge for speechwriters is writing authoritatively about topics for which they may know little. As executive speechwriter Ben Roberts notes: To be a successful speechwriter you must be able to digest large volumes of information and become an'expert for a day', as I like to say - acquiring information, condensing it into a coherent narrative, promptly forgetting it so you have room for the next lot of information... The key challenge in this is identifying what you don't need to know. Writing a speech involves several steps. A speechwriter has to meet with the executive and the executive's senior staff to determine the broad framework of points or messages that the executive wants to cover in the speech; the speechwriter does his or her own research on the topic to flesh out this framework with anecdotes and examples. The speechwriter will consider the audience for the speech, which can range from a town-hall meeting of community leaders to an international leaders' forum; the speechwriter blends the points, themes and messages with his or her own research to create an "informative and authentic speech" for the executive.
The speechwriter presents a draft version of the speech to the executive and makes notes on any revisions or changes that are requested. If the speechwriter is familiar with the topic and the positions and style of the executive, only small changes may be needed. In other cases, the executive may feel that the speech does not have the right tone or flow, the entire speech may have to be re-drafted; some notable political speechwriters include: Don Watson wrote for Prime Minister Paul Keating Eva Christiansen wrote for Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel Henri Guaino wrote for French President Nicolas Sarkozy Sir Ronald Millar wrote for British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Thilo Sarrazin wrote for German Minister of Finance and Defence Hans Apel Reuben Abati, wrote for President Goodluck Jonathan Olusegun Adeniyi, wrote for President Yar'Adua Farooq Kperogi, wrote for President Olusegun Obasanjo Pat Buchanan wrote for President Richard Nixon Christopher Buckley wrote for President George H. W. Bush James Fallows wrote for President Jimmy Carter Jon Favreau wrote for President Barack Obama Charlie Fern wrote for First Lady Laura Bush and President George W. Bush David Frum wrote for President George W. Bush Michael Gerson wrote for President George W. Bush Richard N. Goodwin wrote for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson Michael Johns wrote for President George H. W. Bush Cody Keenan wrote for President Barack Obama Ken Khachigian wrote for President Richard Nixon and President Ronald Reagan Chris Matthews wrote for President Jimmy Carter William McGurn wrote for President George W. Bush Peggy Noonan wrote for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush William Safire wrote for President Richard Nixon Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. wrote for President John F. Kennedy Bob Shrum wrote for Senator Ted Kennedy Tony Snow wrote for President George H. W. Bush Theodore "Ted" Sorenson wrote for President John F. Kennedy Ben Stein wrote for President Richard Nixon Marc Thiessen wrote for President George W. Bush Michael Wa
