PALM BEACH, Fla., Dec. 29 (UPI) — President-elect Donald Trump is said to be looking to Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy as models for his inaugural address, which aides said he is writing largely himself.
Trump, who is staying at Mar-a-Lago on the island of Palm Beach for the holidays, met with presidential historian Douglas Brinkley on Wednesday to discuss the precedent for inaugural speeches. Brinkley said Trump is hoping to keep his speech short, but with the impact of famous prior ones, including Reagan’s “shining city on a hill” analogy and JFK’s famous civic call to arms, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” as points of reference.
Trump is working with aide and speechwriter Stephen Miller, who helped draft Trump’s convention speech, on his inaugural address. But friends who dined with Trump this week told CNN the president-elect has taken a primary role in the writing of the speech.
A Trump transition spokesman said the inaugural address will aim to strike a brighter tone than the convention speech Trump gave, where he laid out in stark terms the dire problems facing the nation. Trump told friends he also will make the inaugural address much shorter than his convention speech, being mindful that tens of thousands of people will be standing outside in January to hear it.
