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Aram Bakshian
Former White House Director of Speechwriting

 

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Aram Bakshian Jr. (March 11, 1944 – September 14, 2022) was an American political aide and speechwriter. He began his career working for Congressman Bill Brock (1966–70), then became a special assistant and speechwriter for Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Senator Bob Dole (1971). He joined the speechwriting staff of President Richard Nixon and, later, of President Ford (1972–75). He then became a senior consultant to Treasury Secretary William E. Simon (1976–77). Following his government service, Aram went on the lecture circuit as well as becoming a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University before being brought back for White House service.

President Ronald Reagan brought Aram on during his first term initially in the Office of Public Liaison as a Special Assistant to the President (Arts, Humanities, Education/Academia, and International Affairs (1981), before he was hired as the Director of the White House Office of Speechwriting (1981–83). In 1987, President Reagan nominated him to a term on the National Council on the Humanities (1987–92). Following his years in government, Bakshian began his tenure as the editor-in-chief of the periodic journal the American Speaker (1992 until his retirement in 2009). In 2014, he began to serve as a contributing editor to The National Interest magazine.

Aram died September 14, 2022


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aram_Bakshian

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https://iop.harvard.edu/fellows/aram-jr-bakshian

 

Aram Jr. Bakshian
Fall 1975
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Aram Jr. Bakshian
Aram Bakshian, Jr. is the speechwriter to Presidents Nixon and Ford (promoted from Staff Assistant to Deputy Special Assistant in March 1974. In 1971, he served as the Special Assistant to Chairman of the Republican National Committee (Senator Bob Dole), and in 1970 as the Public Information Specialist with Federal Government. Mr. Bakshian served from 1966 to 1969 as a research aide and legislative assistant to Senator (then Representative) Bill Brock (R-TN) during which time he also headed staff operation of Brock's 22-member campus task force. He has also published over a hundred articles, essays and reviews in the United States and overseas in eight languages.

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Aram Bakshian Jr. never went to college. Legend has it that he was standing in the registration line at Georgetown University in the fall of 1962 and, struck by the banality of the conversations around him, decided to forgo the university experience and make his way in the world without it. As it happened, he made his way just fine, becoming a significant figure of the American conservative movement for more than a half century as congressional staffer, presidential speechwriter, author, commentator, and Washington raconteur.

Bakshian died September 14 at age 78 from pancreatic cancer. In June, he wrote to friends informing them of the diagnosis and adding, “There is no cure.” He said he planned to continue living and writing as usual for as long as he could. “But I want you to know,” he emphasized, “that I do so in a grateful and contented state of mind.https://www.theamericanconservative.com/remembering-aram-bakshian/

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