Mr. Meacham is not expected to join the administration. But his connection to Mr. Biden recalls the historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.’s relationship with President John F. Kennedy. Mr. Schlesinger worked for Mr. Kennedy’s campaign and as a member of his White House staff, and later chronicled his presidency.
Mr. Biden’s reliance on a historian stands in contrast with President Trump’s lack of interest in the past. Mr. Biden is known as a person who likes to use historical analogies in his public speeches and his own thinking, and historians have said that it made sense he would want someone like Mr. Meacham involved in the speech-writing process.
“The fear of that kind of work is you get labeled a court historian and are seen as being hyperpartisan,” said Douglas Brinkley, a history professor at Rice University. “But if anyone can pull it off, Meacham can. He’s liked by moderate Republicans. He’s a best-selling writer. He’s a wordsmith, and that’s what Biden needs. He’s probably able to keep a foot in both worlds.”
Mr. Brinkley added that Mr. Meacham was uniquely suited to help Mr. Biden with weaving “patriotic lore” into his speeches.
Mr. Meacham declined to comment on his role.
During the Trump years, Mr. Meacham had also been a regular presence on MSNBC and NBC News broadcasts. But as of Monday, he was not a paid contributor at the network, according to two people familiar with the decision. Mr. Meacham was expected to return to NBC as an unpaid guest and could resume his paid role next year, possibly after the inauguration, the people said. NBC declined to comment.
Indeed, Mr. Meacham appeared on MSNBC before and after Mr. Biden’s acceptance speech on Saturday. About half an hour after Mr. Biden had concluded, the anchor Brian Williams introduced Mr. Meacham by saying, “I’m not the historian that you are, and I don’t have the Pulitzer that you do, but do you concur that is the way we are used to hearing from our presidents?”
“Absolutely,” Mr. Meacham responded, without disclosing that he had been involved in the writing of the speech.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/us/politics/jon-meacham-biden-speech.html
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