What Is Something Only Laurence Can Say?

WWW alumn Laurence Pevsner on writing speeches for UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield and the art of crafting the perfect apology.

Laurence Pevsner ’14 has technically been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and many more leading publications. He was appointed by President Joe Biden to write over 600 speeches in two and a half years, most of which have been presented directly to the United Nations. He has churned out creative ads for the Biden campaign and other liberal politicians. But none of these are under his own name.

Pevsner is a speechwriter for nation heads, celebrities, politicians and CEOs of big companies. It’s difficult to get very specific about his work, Pevsner said, because people don’t want to reveal the fact that someone was writing for them — he is often subject to non-disclosure agreements that sign off his ideas to others.