Skutnik is speechwriter jargon for someone who gets acknowledged by the President in his State of the Union address

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An article by David Murray at Pro Rhetoric on May 25, 2023 titled “The Lehrman Landing” – and Other Jargon Speechwriters Should Use Constantly includes the following jargon term:

 

“Skutnik. On January 13, 1982, a low-level government worker named Lenny Skutnik saved a woman from drowning after a plane crashed in the icy Potomac River. President Reagan invited Skutnik to attend the State of the Union Address a couple weeks later, and called him out during the speech as the kind of American hero we need more of, these days. Such call-outs to ordinary citizens became a staple of State of the Union speeches that continues to this day. By the speechwriters who stage them, they are called ‘Skutniks.’ “

 

Wikipedia has both a page about Lenny Skutnik and a List of Lenny Skutniks. There also is an article from the Congressional Budget Office on June 3, 2010 titled Lenny Skutnik, CBO’s Most Famous Employee, Retires.

 

 Congressional Research Service has Report R44770 on January 9, 2019 titled History, Evolution, and Practices of the President’s State of the Union Address: Frequently Asked Questions. It has a section titled When Did the Tradition of Acknowledging Guests Sitting in the House Gallery Begin? that explains:

 

“The chief executive frequently invites citizens who have distinguished themselves in some field of service or endeavor to be personal guests in the gallery. President Ronald Reagan began the tradition in 1982 by acknowledging Lenny Skutnik in his speech. Since then, most State of the Union addresses have included the direct mention of at least one presidential guest who was in attendance. Presidential speechwriters often refer to these guests as ‘Lenny Skutniks.’ Usually, the achievements or programs for which the President publicly salutes these guests also serve to underscore some major element of the message. For example, guests have included civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, NBA star and humanitarian Dikembe Mutombo, former Treasury Secretary and Senator Lloyd Bentsen, baseball great Henry ‘Hank’ Aaron, and numerous military servicemembers and veterans.”

 

A recent article by Sherri Kolade at Ragan PR Daily on February 20, 2024 titled Use this decades-old speechwriting technique to create powerful messages today describes:

 

“Reagan’s speechwriter Aram Bakshian, Jr. said that he ‘wrote Lenny Skutnik into the finale’ of Reagan’s speech to play up the hero aspect, according to the Miller Center.

 

‘I wrote the passage that created the hero in the gallery ploy, which unfortunately has been milked to death since and overdone. I almost regret it.’

 

While Bakshian, Jr. may be sick of the tactic, it’s been used so frequently because it works. These Skutniks often resonate with audiences as their stories tug at heartstrings.

 

Michael Ricci, former director of communications for then-Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and former speechwriter and director of communications for John Boehner and Paul Ryan, told PR Daily that speechwriters can use Skutniks to connect the dots with audiences and their sdesire to relate to a hero in a speech.”

 

The image came from a YouTube video of Ronald Reagan Acknowledging Lenny Skutnik 1982.