James Humes, speechwriter to presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan and George H.W. Bush, died last Friday at 85.
For the Nixon administration, Humes drafted the inscription on the plaque left on the moon: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”
Humes often told of a formative meeting with Winston Churchill, in which Churchill told him: “Young man, study history. In history lie all the secrets of statecraft.”
Which prompted the undergrad that very day to replace on his dorm room wall, a poster of Ted Williams with a picture of Churchill.